Thursday, 21 February 2013

Casablanca (1942) Classic Movie Review

Another of my top 10 off the list, the legendary Casablanca. 70 years on
and Warner Brothers still keep reminding us of this classic. How many
times of you watched a Warner Brothers film (minus the Batman and Harry
Potter films) and heard a little piece of music as the WB logo comes up,
that is a few notes of "As time goes by" a huge nod to WB most popular
film of all time, Casablanca.

So here's looking at you.. Casablanca. You get films now and then where
it just seems to gel together and just works (Skyfall 2012). This film
has some of the finest acting I have ever seen. If you want to see some
great acting just look at Humphrey Bogart in this film. Bogart is my
favourite actor of all time and shows some superb emotion with his face
in this film. The scene where he sets eyes on Ingrid Bergman is just
sheer brilliant acting the emotion in his face and his eyes, you don't
see it much today. The camera loves these two stars and they loved the
camera. Also Claude Rains in a supporting role is just brilliant as
ever, he is such a underrated actor, everything he is in he always gave
his best. This movie is down in history as having the most memorable
quotes of all time. In the American Film Institute's top 100 film quotes
Casablanca has the most in that list.

Casablanca is a romance story, set during the second world war. The
story follows Ingrid Bergman trying to escape from the Nazis and
arriving in Casablanca. Unfortunately her ex-boyfriend Bogart, owns a bar
there and they end up meeting once again. They are both so happy to see
each other, but don't tell the other. A pure brilliant scene is where
Bogart is asking himself why did she have to walk into his bar, I love
it. The film is littered with brilliant flash back scenes, we see their
past romance, it makes us feel sorry for them both, because deep down
there is still so much affection between them both. These scenes are
helped along by a wonderful score, which consists of the song of
Casablanca and now WB.. "As time goes by".
Unfortunately Bergman is married to Paul Henreid who is kind of
mysterious, we find out why, but to say would be a spoiler. Let's say it
doesn't help our two main characters at all, and it comes a point where
Bogart has to test his love to Bergman for the allied nations in the
war against the Nazis, which happens to run into one of the greatest
movie endings of all time, sheer class. If you like war films, film noir
and a good decent romance with proper acting you need to see this film.
Its easy to see why WB never forget Casablanca because, Casablanca we
will never forget you.